White Noise
by Evie Reyes
Summary: After Jack strikes a deal with Pitch, life takes an immediate turn for the worst. Takes place roughly fifteen years after the events in RotG. Jack/Pitch Jack/Jamie Jack/Tooth
1. Deals and Deceptions

**Warning:** Minor character death

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**Chapter I**

**Deals and Deceptions**

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"Having fun?"

Jack struck his staff into the pavement. "Always." A web of ice spiraled from the point of impact. The ice was thick and jagged, unlike the sheer frost that typically flowed from it.

"Doesn't seem like it."

"This really isn't a good time to be playing games with me," Jack warned him.

"You think this is a game? On the contrary," Pitch twisted his wrist, cracking the joint as he strode past Jack, circling him like a predator might to its prey. "It troubles me to see you like this, Jack. So—" his wrist cracked on cue. "Distraught."

Despite being shadowed for the past hour by him, Jack had avoided acknowledging his presence until now. Since Pitch seemed insistent on instigating something, ignoring him was proving increasingly difficult. Pitch was trying to get a rise out of him and to Jack's hatred, it was working.

Pitch kicked Jack's staff but he had a firm grip. When the staff didn't even budge, Pitch laughed. "Tense, are we?"

Jack thrust out his staff, preventing Pitch from walking further. It barred him from circling him any further, bringing both of them to a cool stand-off. As if testing Jack's newly defensive stance, Pitch lifted a skeletal, shadowy finger and trailed it across the length of the staff, sending shivers into Jack's stomach.

He almost dropped the staff. Almost.

If he backed down now, it would make Pitch seem like the strong one. That was far from true. Since the Guardians had gathered nearly fifteen years ago, Pitch had been reduced to a frail, thin complexion of his former self. Sure. Darkness still enshrouded him, but there was now this fragility to him that had never existed before. He was the weak one. Not Jack.

Jack shoved his staff against Pitch's chest. "Back off."

"You know. I enjoy watching the peaceful deaths," Pitch said suddenly, shaking a finger at him. He was taunting him. "Ever watched the ceremonies that follow after them? People are so interesting. Go to that girl's funeral and see for yourself. Watch how they come and go, placing flowers her body when really, who wants flowers when you're dead? But it's the violent deaths that I really enjoy the most. Do you know why?"

_Don't listen to him_, Jack told himself.

"The excitement," Pitch continued. "Surely, you saw it to. Seeing that vibrant life ripped slowly from her body. Though, you did a valiant job trying to save her life. I do give you credit for that."

Jack barely noticed the darkness that was now enshrouding him. Shadows snaked around his neck, pooling down around his feet. He leapt back, shaking any lingering shadows from his shoulders and seized the shadows into ice out of defense. Jack was prepared to hurl the ice formations into his direction with full force.

Then he stopped. Although they were unseen in this part of town, Jack knew the ice would surely cause collateral damage to the surrounding foliage, delicate lights and front shop windows or even worse...to other people who passed through them unknowingly.

Jack dispelled the ice into a light flutter of snow. Nothing more.

"That was weak coming from you," Pitch laughed then, "Honestly, I had been expecting more. It seems that girl's sudden death had more of an impact on you than I thought."

Jack had to leave before he did something truly disastrous he'd later regret. He threw his hood over his head then, gathered ice crystals from the air underneath his fingers and was prepared to take himself airborne when Pitch said something that made him freeze.

"I could help you," he offered. "It's not too late."

Jack confronted him now. He whisked his hood back and considered what Pitch had said. He wanted something from him. Of that, Jack had no doubt. "I don't need your kind of help," Jack said. "Why waste your time finding me?"

"I was drawn to your fear. The fear that you couldn't save that girl's life." Pitch boasted and Jack swore, he seemed to gain just the slightest bit of strength. He wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders and pulled him near. "It's an intoxicating feeling."

"You were there," Jack realized. "And you did nothing?"

"Think about this now," Pitch said, showing no remorse. "Why would _I_—" he jabbed his thumb into his chest. "Help the same girl who ruined me? The first girl who stood up against me. One of the first who believed in _you_—" he jabbed his finger against Jack's chest. "What was her name now? Sonia…Sasha…"

"Sophie."

"Ah," Pitch snapped his fingers. "Yes, that's the one. That _heathen_—"

Jack threw his fist. It struck Pitch right in the jaw, leaving a coat of frost burning the side of his face. The blow took Pitch by surprise and left him stunned because Jack managed to even throw a second punch. But by the third time Pitch had reoriented himself and blocked him. Despite being such a frail shadow of his former self, Pitch was still strong. He grabbed Jack's hand, stopping another punch from being thrown. He crushed his grip around Jack's fist, holding him firmly in place.

"Finally," Pitch muttered. "I have your attention."

"There's nothing you could do for me that I'd ever want," Jack told him, struggling to free his arm. When he successfully wrested his hand out of Pitch's grip however, he didn't run. Something inside him was aching to know the extent of Pitch's offer.

"But you are _so_ wrong," Pitch said. "I may not have the same powers as that of the Moon. I can't choose whom to curse to forever roam this world or who should be eternally laid to rest. But what I can give to you is the power you could have used to save that girl in the first place. My power. You'd never have to watch anyone die before his or her time ever again. That's my promise to you."

"That's far too noble coming from you."

Pitch laughed as if he Jack had just cracked the punch line of some joke. "Your words hurt me. Listen. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. It's as simple as that. And to show the sincerity of my offer, I'm willing to scratch yours first. Anything you might need in the future, let me know and I will go out of my way to do it for you. You have no obligation to help me until then. All I ask for in return is the next time I need assistance, you will be there to serve me."

"No," Jack said, without thinking twice. "That's my final answer."

"At least consider my offer. What's the worst that can happen?" he asked. "We shake on it and who knows? Maybe you never ask for my help and I won't ever bother you again. That choice will be entirely yours."

"I said 'no'!" Jack insisted. He raked his fingers through his white hair. "Accepting 'no' for an answer must be too simple of an answer even for you."

Before Pitch could stop him a second time, Jack took to the sky. His mind wandered freely. He thought of pleasant things like hot chocolate steaming from paper cup or children's hands clad with soft mittens. Sleds barreling down clean, barren hills coated with snow. Making snow angels in empty fields.

_Cars with brakes that skid across unseen ice._

Snowflakes catching onto someone's eyelashes. Ice storms that encased trees and streets in an inch of pristine ice, preserving a world that was so alive and vibrant beneath it.

_Fire swallowing engines, scorching the underside of a car as flames rose into the interior. Screaming for help. Oh, the screaming. Then the smell of burning upholstery and flesh. And no amount of frost Jack poured on it could smother the fire or soothe the burning by the time he arrived. Seventeen. That was how old Sophie was when she burned alive that night._

Jack cringed at the memory and tried to drive the sickening feeling he felt out of him. He clenched his fists and engulfed the town below him in a barrage of snow flurries and ice, leaving a winter storm to unleash its fury soon enough. Sometimes he wanted to stay and watch it freeze.

#

The thing about snow was how it could turn an ugly thing into something beautiful in this cold world. So the day of Sophie's funeral, Jack made certain it was snowing. Not a cold snow. A soft, beautiful snow that dusted the ground delicately.

Jamie was there too.

He had stopped believing in Jack ages ago, but Jack didn't blame him. Once children reached a certain age, they no longer believed in the things they once used to. Jack liked to believe Jamie would be different from the rest, but as North reminded him, it was a fate that befell all children.

Even Jamie was not immune to the aging process.

There finally came a day when Jack stopped visiting him on the nights the first frost fell. It had been a few years since the last time Jack had seen him considering, but it still amazed him how fast Jamie had grown. Jack didn't know much about Jamie anymore, other than that he no longer had freckles and this would be his final year in high school.

He was wearing a black parka over a crewneck cut shirt. In his hands were a few white roses. He placed them over a closed casket. There were little words exchanged between him and others. Mostly it was a show of uncomfortable embraces. People didn't know what else to say. Condolences could only be voiced so much.

It was clear Jamie was hurting, but even that didn't compare to the pain his mother felt. Her eyes were sunk from lack of sleep and ill nourishment. The wrinkles in her face had become less elegant, making her entire complexion crumble.

Jack watched from the distance. It didn't seem right to intrude too close on the funeral, so he stayed back. Roaming the outskirts of the graveyard grounds allowed Jack to keep watch over the crowd anyway. He made sure nothing intruded on them, mainly Pitch.

"Jack?"

The snow was already swirling faster defensively around him. Jack barely recognized the voice until he turned the right direction. It was the Tooth fairy.

Immediately, the snow stilled. Even though over fifteen years ago had passed since they had all defended the world against Pitch, there had never been a need to gather again. That said, encounters with the guardians were infrequent at best. So when the Tooth fairy appeared before him, it took Jack by surprise.

"Tooth?" he asked. "It's been a while. What are you doing here?"

The fact that Jack was here too seemed to take the Tooth fairy by surprise as well. She hesitated. It became apparent that she had not been expecting to run into Jack either. She smoothed the feathers decorating her cheekbone nervously. "Collecting teeth," she replied. "And memories, of course."

Jack planted his staff into the ground and forced a smile. "Dumb question, sorry."

"Nonsense," she assured him. "I was just passing overhead when I saw you here. Jack. Is there a reason you're here? You know what this is, don't you? It's…it's unusual for a guardian to attend events like these."

"I..." Jack's voice trailed thin. "I wanted to be here."

A frown creased the corners of the Tooth fairy's face. Her decorative feathers seemed to wilt around her. "You knew her, didn't you?" she said.

"We all knew her, "Jack reminded her. "It's Sophie Bennett. Remember? The little two-year old that managed to sneak her way into the Easter Bunny's lair?"

"Jack...this is why it's never good for a guardian to get too attached to someone. You can love many children, but when you single that love to a select few, it will do nothing but hurt you in the end. Trust me. I've been there. I know."

"Your saying you don't remember her? Tell me you don't feel _something_."

The Tooth fairy hesitated before speaking again. "I'm worried about you, Jack. Did something happen?"

"What? No!" Jack told her, which was an outright lie. But sometimes lying could be so much easier than confronting the truth.

"If you say so." She said nothing more about it. "I have to go now. Lots of work to do. We'll talk more later, okay Jack? It's been far too long. Let's talk later. I mean it this time!"

Every time she said that however, Jack would never see her again for another few months. A part of him wished she would visit more frequently. North certainly never did and the Easter Bunny? Well. It was probably better if they didn't see each other but once a year when Jack made a point to spread some extra frost around on Easter Day.

That left the Sandman, whose company Jack truly enjoyed. He just wasn't the most conversational of the group.

Suddenly, Jack heard a scream. A horrifying scream that chilled and tore him from the inside. There was no mistaking it. That scream for help had come from the Tooth fairy. He searched the skies desperately.

"Tooth!" Jack shouted.

He dashed into the air, using icy crystals in the air to propel himself upward. He scanned the area for any sign of her. Something drifted out of the sky. One hit the side of Jack's face before he grabbed one. It was a torn feather, the color of mint and sage. He turned his eyes to the sky.

Nothing.

Jack charged upward. He still couldn't see what was happening.

That's when he saw her.

She was falling. Too fast.

There had been a struggle, Jack could tell. The feathers decorating her left arm had been torn from her skin, revealing a patch of bleeding, ivory flesh. "Tooth!" he hollered. She was unconscious. Jack dashed toward her, but she was falling faster than Jack could catch her. To save herself, she needed to wake up. "Snap out of it!"

"Really now," Pitch suddenly appeared by his side. "This fear is becoming so familiar. You're far too easy to detect these days."

The thing about shadows were how fast they were. Shadow moved only as fast as light and where there was light, there would always be shadow. So for Pitch, speed was an inconsequential matter to him. Right now, he was falling at a pace that equaled Jack's free-falling. But Pitch had the potential to be so much faster. "Help her!" Jack said.

"I'd love to, Jack. Truly, I would," Pitch told him. "But what would I have to gain from the loss of such a guardian? Honestly, it wouldn't affect me. But I wonder. Would her loss affect you?"

"Pitch!" Jack begged, falling toward the ground. "I can't reach her in time! Hurry!"

"What was that?" Pitch egged him further. "Did you say something?"

"Help her," Jack said, knowing fully well he was playing right into Pitch's hands. "I know you can do it. That's what you've been wanting. I'll help you with something in return. It's a deal."

"Something?"

"_Anything! _Just save her, Pitch!"

Pitch whistled through his teeth. "Deal. The word of a guardian works is as good of a promise to me."

That was all Pitch needed to evaporate into darkness and envelop the Tooth fairy gently into his clutches, cradling her beaten form in the comfort of his shadows. A smirk graced his lips. He laid her gently on the ground below, lifted his head toward the sky to make sure Jack was looking. Then he vanished into the ground, blending between the blades of cold grass.

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_There are few rewards for the life of a writer, but reviews are one of the great rewards we can receive. So p__lease review!_


	2. A Marionette Named Jack

**Author's Note: **I can't believe how fast I wrote this chapter. There are so many other things I should be doing right now, but darn it! I have this story stuck in my head now and the faster I can get it out, the faster I can return to more productive things. Besides, this is where things actually begin to get interesting.

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**Chapter II**

**A Marionette Named Jack**

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Jack ran toward her. Each step crunched the damp grass further into the ground, cold and brittle the frost. He knelt down, setting his staff aside. To his relief, she was breathing fine. It seemed whatever had caught her by surprise didn't manage to cause further harm.

Before he could reach out to her, she woke. Her wings were the first to jolt to life. She leapt to her feet, darting her eyes left and right. "Jack!" she grabbed him then and immediately brushed his white hair off his forehead, as if checking to see if he was injured. He was fine, of course. A puzzled look etched the Tooth fairy's face. She ran her hand then down his face, turning his head sideways. Seeing nothing alarming she turned it the other way. "You're okay," she said. Then as if to assure herself, she asked. "You're okay?"

"Me?" Jack said, finding this sudden scrutiny unnerving. "I'm not the one who was knocked unconscious out of the sky."

"I…_you_. And _he_. Pitch. Oh!" Her wings flit back and forth anxiously. Whatever she had been imagining had left her shaken. "I thought he had…"

Jack reached for her hand, bringing her back toward him. His touch seemed to calm her. Now that he was standing this close, he could see the patch of missing feathers running up her arm. Blood speckled her flesh. He pulled her arm closer to get a better look. "What did this to you?"

Tooth pulled back and Jack let her go. "I was caught off guard by Pitch," she said, finally giving her own injury a better look. She pressed her hand against the exposed flesh. "How could I not see it coming?"

"What happened, Tooth," Jack demanded.

"Jack, I…don't worry about it. Nothing serious happened. All I remember was envisioning you and..." she clasped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to forget whatever it was she had seen. She shook her head. She couldn't bring herself to finish. "Oh Jack, it was awful. When I turned around, all I remember was feeling lightheaded before blacking out."

"You had a nightmare," he told her.

"But Pitch hasn't bothered any of the Guardians for so long. Why me? Has he bothered you yet?"

"No." Lie number two. _Great. _Unfortunately it was the only answer that would help calm her now. "He hasn't."

"That's good," Tooth said, relieved. "We'll leave him be for now, but we should spread word of this attack to the others. They should know."

"Right," Jack told her, suddenly dreading where this was going. With his latest encounter with Pitch, he felt it would be best to avoid the others for now until he worked this 'debt' out. "You go on ahead."

"Everyone would love to see you again, I know. Come with me."

Jack smiled at her and reached for his staff. He propped it against his shoulder. "No offense," he said. "I'd rather not come if I'm not needed. You know I prefer being left alone."

The Tooth fairy nodded in clasped her hands around his. "Well take care of yourself, Jack. I'll check in with you soon."

"No rush."

Then she took flight, leaving Jack behind. She was far gone when Pitch finally decided to reveal himself.

"How sweet," he whispered into Jack's ear as he slinked toward him. "I'm not sure who I found more sickening. Your act of nobleness. Or the nauseating show of concern she had dripping all over you."

Jack hoisted his staff, smashing it into his chin. "Watch where you're walking there," Jack told him, making sure the impact had done a solid job. "Could be dangerous."

Pitch stumbled backward in pain. He rubbed his chin, a bitter scowl in his eyes. "I'd be more careful if I were you. You don't want to make this dangerous."

"No," Jack corrected him. "The moment you dragged Tooth into this, _you_ made it dangerous."

"I—" Pitch raised his arm, threatening to strike Jack across the face with it when he stopped. He smoothed out the sleeves of his robe and sighed instead. "Enough. There are more important matters to discuss."

"Right," Jack agreed. "Like how I'm never helping you with anything you ever ask of me. Forget it. It won't happen."

"Hm. Ha. HA!" Pitch cackled. "You think it's as easy as that? You think you have the free will to make your own decisions now?"

Jack didn't see what was so amusing.

"Didn't they teach you anything when you became a Guardian? If you think a Guardian can take back his promise as easily as that, you're about to be in for a rude awakening. When you make a promise, you're bound to keep it. It's not like you're human. The rules don't bend for you quite so easily."

The silence tensed between them.

"Now I need you to do something," Pitch explained. "Listen here, Jack. You do this one thing for me and I promise you, that will be the end of it. I scratched your back, you'll have scratched mine. It's a done deal."

"You must have not understood me the first time I said I'm never helping someone like you," Jack said.

"Yes," Pitch rapped his fingers against one another. "We'll see about that. Now where was I? Ah!" He stretched his arm toward the ground, materializing shadows into his palm. He turned his hand upright, cupping the newly formed shadows into his hand. Percolating in the center of his palm was a vial of black liquid.

"Catch," he ordered Jack, tossing the vial in his direction.

Jack caught it. He turned it over in his hand, examining the glass vial and the black liquid sloshing inside it.

"Drink it."

"You must be kidding."

"Does it look like I'm kidding?"

Jack frowned and studied the contents of the vial. "What is it?"

"Think of it as a gift."

"Some gift."

"You don't want it? Give it one of the other Guardians." Pitch shrugged. "Slip it into their drink when they'll least expecting it. Or lie. I see you've been favoring that route lately."

"Leave the others out of this," Jack told him. Dragging any of the other Guardians into this was out of the question. That left only himself. "And if I refuse?"

"I think it would be better if you experienced those consequences for yourself. You must not have believed me when I said a Guardian's word was good enough for me. See, when you make a promise like that it must come from your center. If you ignore your center, well…" Pitch clapped his hands then extended his arms toward Jack. "See for yourself."

Jack tossed the vial up into the air, catching it as it fell back down again. He felt great. So why did he still feel as if Pitch was holding the upper hand? He inspected the vial once more before pocketing it out of sight. He spun his staff firmly into his grasp and prepared to do what he did best. It was finally time to spread this place with some winter fun.

However, nothing happened. It was as if something inside was blocking him. Jack spun his hand in circles in the air, trying to conjure at least frost to form on his fingertips. He spun nothing but wind.

"Having any trouble over there?" Pitch called from the distance. Jack turned around to see him watching with a bemused grin on his face. "Come on. Give it your best shot. You're so entertaining to watch."

Jack clenched his fist.

"This is not my doing, I assure you," Pitch told him. "This is only a temporary symptom brought on by the promise you gave me. Or failed to give me, in this case. Maybe this symptom could turn into a permanent one. Who knows? The next move is yours."

Nothing more was said.

"Honestly Jack, I don't care what you decide to do at this point. As far as I'm concerned, you're no longer a threat. Unfortunately, you're no longer an asset either. But drink that little dose of liquid there, and I'll at least promise you this. Things will return as they were before. Everything will be normal."

Jack uncorked the vial. He held his breath. The faster he got this over with, the sooner things could return to normal. Pitch had given him his promise after all, right? Whatever that meant.

He tipped the liquid down his throat.

And swallowed.

#

It was alarmingly cold when Jack woke.

He found it strange that he was still in the center of that same barren field he had last been. Quite some time had passed. Night had fallen. Freshly fallen snow coated the surface of the field. The next thing he noticed were his clothes. They clung to his body, stiff with semi-frozen frost. It was a moonless night. Clouds blanketed the skies in thick shadows.

When Jack tried to sit up, he nearly screamed. Pain coursed through his body, crippling him back to the ground. The slightest movement seemed to place enormous pressure on his bones. It was a sensation unlike Jack had ever before felt. He groaned and fell back into the ground, too weak to stand, let alone sit upright.

"Hey, y'alright?"

A young man near his age leaned over him. Jack felt an arm slip under his back and lift him off the ground to sit upright. Still he was wavering between consciousness and sleep. And honestly, sleep was seeming like the easier of the two options.

"Are you alone?" the young man asked.

Jack nodded. "...yeah—" he coughed violently.

"How'd get out here?"

"I didn't know..." Jack tried answering truthfully but he was having difficulty articulating his thoughts. "Where is he?"

"Who? I thought you said you were alone."

"Pitch." It took Jack by surprise when he was suddenly hauled to his feet. He gripped the stranger's other arm, helping to support his weight. He kept slipping out of consciousness and this young man, whoever he was, was doing a decent job of holding him upright, trying to keep him awake by asking questions that didn't matter. "Is he still here?"

"...I don't know," the young man replied. "I'll find out for you—"

"No—!" Jack suddenly lost his grip around the other man's shoulder. The sudden outburst had sent his head spinning. His vision blurred. "...don't go..."

He was caught from collapsing into the ground. This young man still with him now had his arm wrapped around his back, supporting his weight. In a desperate attempt to make the world stop spinning, Jack closed his eyes.

The young man was on a cellphone, dialing for someone. It wasn't until that moment that Jack began to comprehend the oddity of this whole situation. Guardians and spirits didn't have cellphones.

"_Yeah," _Jack listened in on the conversation. _"I'm outside Rosewood Cemetery. There's this boy out here I found passed out on the ground...I don't know...hypothermia maybe but I think he's going into shock-"_

Jack struggled to stand on his own again. He attempted to place some distance between him and this stranger, but the young man leveraged his weight just right so Jack wouldn't risk falling again.

"_No! The nearest building is at least five miles away...I have a car...yes, there's a heater...I can drive. Won't be a problem. It'll be faster that way...are you sure that's the nearest hospital?"_

The phone conversation ended shortly afterward.

"Hey, stay with me," the young man told Jack. "Need you awake for this, got it?"

But Jack was done answering his questions. He didn't have the energy anymore.

The next thing he knew he was being forced inside the passenger seat of a car. "Watch your head," Jack heard him say. The stranger cushioned a hand over his head, preventing him from hitting his head against the side frame of the car. Then he removed his coat and threw it over Jack. It was a black parka. Soon the car engine was roaring and heat was blasting from the vents.

_I've never driven in one of these before, _Jack thought to himself. Unfortunately, it was less exciting than he had imagined. North's sleigh was by far more exhilarating. But this did give Jack the chance to get a clear, solid glance at this stranger who had stuck beside him ever since he had woke alone in that field where Pitch had left him.

It was Jamie Bennett.

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_Kimauri - Thank you for the feedback! You said you were curious to see what Pitch was going for, so I hope you have not been disappointed in this latest twist of events. Can't say too much right now. Don't want to spoil too much. But I hope you will still continue to read more as I update._

_reckless is a wreak - You're too kind. Thanks!_

_Thank you also to OtakuAme, rainbugs and Androgynous-Heron for taking the time to review as well, in addition to any others I may have missed here! It's always lovely to hear from other readers. :)_


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